Stages of formation of legislation on notary activity in Russia

The article examines the process of origin and development of notary activity in the Russian state in pre-revolutionary and Soviet times. The authors analysed the normative legal acts regulating notary activity at different stages of its formation. It is noted that the rise of the notary was due to the development of civil law relations in the Russian state. The analysis of the sources of legal regulation made it possible to carry out the notarial activity legislation formation periodisation. The authors identified ten stages of its formation – from the publication of the first acts reflecting the emergence of certain prerequisites for the emergence of a notary, to the adoption of acts that accompanied its establishment and intensive development. The authors point to the instability of the legal regulation of notary activity in the Soviet era – repeatedly, periods of improvement of the institute of notary were replaced by its regressive transformations. The paper notes that the Soviet government did repeatedly attempt to liquidate the institute of notaries; however, the notarial activity development historical analysis led to the conclusion that the normal functioning of civil law turnover is impossible without notary bodies, thus the need for the development of notaries at the present stage is indicated.